If you have leaders who are prepared to incite group against group it is very easy to manufacture reasons and excuses.
CHINUA ACHEBEThe sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.
More Chinua Achebe Quotes
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When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands.
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Every generation must find its mission and fulfill it, as Fanon said – or betray it. So it is not something that you can write up on the wall, saying this is what has to be done. Every generation has to discover what it needs to do.
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A coward may cover the ground with his words but when the time comes to fight he runs away.
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One reason why I am quite angry with what is happening in Nigeria today is that everything has collapsed. If I decide to go back now, there will be so many problems – where will I find the physical therapy and other things that I now require?
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As long as one people sit on another and are deaf to their cry, so long will understanding and peace elude all of us.
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An artist in my view is always afraid of extremists; he is always afraid of those who claim to have found the ultimate solution to any question.
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We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb Onye ji onye n’ani ji onwe ya: ‘He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.’
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The problem with leaderless uprisings taking over is that you don’t always know what you get at the other end. If you are not careful you could replace a bad government with one much worse!
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Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am – and what I need – is something I have to find out myself.
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Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity.
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Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it’s far removed from your situation.
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Become familiar with your home, but know also about your neighbors. The young man who never went anywhere thinks his mother is the greatest cook.
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When a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself.
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Women and music should not be dated.
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If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
CHINUA ACHEBE






